


a memory unrepressed

by orphan_account



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, and have to find their way out or they won't remember each other, they're transported to a maze in their sleep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-12
Updated: 2016-12-12
Packaged: 2018-09-08 04:14:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8830105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: “So, what, you think I’m real, you’re real? That we’ve somehow… I don’t know, astral projected to this place?”“I don’t know what I think,” Thea said slowly, a strain on her voice as if she hated to admit it.“Well, the sun is– Fuck.”“What?” Thea looked around as well, then froze.There was no sun. There were no clouds. No shadows. It was indisputably light out, as if it were day, but the light seemed to have no source.Groaning, Dan buried her face in her hands. “What is this, I don’t like it.”





	

When Dan got home from her job as a bartender, she was so tired she just wanted to fall onto her bed and give in to the sleep trying to claim her.

She forced herself to brush her teeth and change out of her work clothes anyway, all the while barely able to keep her eyes open, before finally letting herself lie down, close her eyes and just let go.

Dreams weren’t something she tended to remember, which is why she expected the next thing she saw to be her pillow when she finally woke up. So when she opened her eyes and saw what could only be described as a maze unfurling in front of her, she blinked, rubbed her eyes and looked again.

“What,” she said out loud.

Was this a dream? Did dreams usually feel so real? She wasn’t sure, but it definitely didn’t seem like one.

There was a sharp intake of breath next to her and Dan flinched, turning rapidly to locate the source of the sound.

Someone was standing there, staring at the maze wide-eyed and slack-jawed.

“Hello.” Dan figured it couldn’t hurt to greet them, no matter what was going on.

The person jumped and whirled around, one hand clutching at their heart and the other coming up while their body dropped into a defensive stance. Dan let her gaze wander over the person, who was dark-skinned like her. Her eyes caught on a certain detail and she stared.

“You’re wearing elephant pyjamas,” Dan said, her eyebrows raised.

The person froze, looked down at themselves, then quickly back up, looking away for a moment before letting their eyes meet Dan’s, a challenge in them.

“Yes, and? I like them.”

“Cute,” Dan said, and meant it, but the person bristled, seeming to take it a different way.

“I have no idea what’s going on here, but I’m certainly not going to let you judge my pyjamas,” they said, frowning and trying to cover their pyjamas from view with their hands. “They’re comfortable and really nobody’s business but my own.”

Dan held her hands up placatingly, not sure why they were getting so defensive. She herself was wearing loose-fitting tracksuit pants and a rumpled shirt a few sizes too big for her, so she didn’t know why this person seemed to take her for the fashion police.

“Yeah, I’m not judging. I don’t really give a shit, to be honest. Wear what you want.”

The person seemed to relax slightly. “Oh, well. Good.”

“I’m Dan, by the way,” Dan said, holding out her hand. “Short for Danielle, but if you call me that we’ll have to fight.”

The person hesitated, then shook Dan’s hand with a firm grip. “Theodora. Call me Thea.”

Dan smiled. “Nice to meet you, Thea.”

“Is that what this is?” Thea said, her brow creased as she looked around. “A meeting?”

Shrugging, Dan also let her gaze drift back to the maze at the bottom of the hill. The rows of hedges themselves were perfectly visible, but the pathways were shrouded in some kind of mist that made it impossible to tell what was going on there.

“Beats me. Might be a dream? Haven’t remembered one of those in ages so I’m not sure how they usually go.”

Thea shook her head. “Not like this.”

“So, what, you think I’m real, you’re real? That we’ve somehow… I don’t know, astral projected to this place?”

“I don’t know what I think,” Thea said slowly, a strain on her voice as if she hated to admit it.

“Well, the sun is– Fuck.”

“What?” Thea looked around as well, then froze.

There was no sun. There were no clouds. No shadows. It was indisputably light out, as if it were day, but the light seemed to have no source.

Groaning, Dan buried her face in her hands. “What is this, I don’t like it.”

“We’ll figure it out,” Thea said, and when Dan looked at her, her expression was determined. “All things have an explanation if you ask the right questions, look at them from the right angle.”

Dan snorted. “I sincerely doubt that. But if it helps you sleep at night…”

“It does, actually.” Thea nodded. “Let’s go explore the maze.”

And then she was walking down the hill, leaving Dan to stare after her. Dan opened her mouth, stretched out a hand and hurried after Thea.

“Wait, wait, wait. You want to go _into_ the maze? That seems like a good way to get lost. Or maybe die. What if we never find a way out again?”

“You want to keep standing on that hill, staring down at it indefinitely? Have fun with that. It’ll get you nowhere.”

“But–”

Thea shook her head. “We don’t know anything about this place. The only way to find out is to explore, and I’d rather die doing that than doing nothing on that hill, if it comes down to it.”

“You–” Dan started, heated, then deflated and finished with, “are right.”

Thea looked rather pleased with herself in that moment, which made Dan want to stick her tongue out at her, an urge she barely managed to suppress.

“How do you even know I’m real, though?” Dan asked. “I mean, what makes you think I’m not just a part of this… figment of your imagination or whatever.”

Thea shrugged. “You might be. For now, I’m going to operate under the assumption that you’re real and found yourself here out of the blue like me. It’s a hypothesis that will either be confirmed or denied with time, though even if it’s confirmed that’s subject to change, of course.”

Dan stared at her. “What are you, a scientist or something?”

Pausing, Thea turned to look at her. “Yes, actually.”

“Oh,” Dan said. “Well, I’m a bartender.”

Thea continued walking. “A good one?”

“Yes,” Dan replied without hesitation.

She was good and she knew it and she was proud of that. Her pay check proved it. Sometimes she wanted to wave it in the face of everyone who’d ever told her she’d amount to nothing, but she tried to convince herself they weren’t even worth her spite.

The day she’d gotten the job at the upscale bar she worked at now, she’d invited all of her stage sisters out for drinks, and they’d teared up because they were so proud of her. They were the only family she considered hers.

“If you turn out to be real, you should tell me where you work. My sister loves a well-mixed drink.”

Dan smiled. “Maybe I will. That is, if I decide _you_ are real by the end of this, and if I trust you enough.”

“You don’t trust me?” Thea actually sounded affronted.

“No. I don’t know you. Do you trust me?”

Thea hesitated. “No,” she finally admitted.

“There you have it.”

They stopped in front of the entrance to the maze, trading an uncertain look. It was swirling with the mist they’d seen throughout the maze’s pathways from the top of the hill, obscure and possibly disguising any number of things.

“We should mark our path somehow,” Dan said. “So we can find our way back if needed.”

“Good idea.” Thea paused, looking around. “There don’t seem to be any rocks we can mark the ground with… Maybe we can snap off some twigs.”

Thea reached out in order to try her theory on the hedge itself, but as she twisted and grunted and pulled, the twig didn’t budge. Dan lifted her eyebrows.

“Wow, how weak are you?”

“I am not,” Thea huffed, “weak. This thing,” another huff, “is indestructible.”

Rolling her eyes, Dan stepped forward. “Here, let me try.”

Thea looked at her, so obviously offended that Dan couldn’t keep a laugh from escaping her.

“You are _not_ stronger than me.”

“Let’s save the arm wrestling for later. Maybe you’re just not using the right technique.”

“Technique,” Thea said. “There is no _technique_ to twig snapping.”

“There’s a technique for everything,” Dan retorted, unsuccessfully trying to make a twig snap or at least pull some leaves off. “Just because it’s easy doesn’t mean it isn’t there.”

After a few more tries, Dan gave up, scowling at the hedge. When she looked over at Thea, she was obviously trying – and failing – to suppress the pleased look on her face.

“See?”

“Are you a child?” Dan sighed. “Anyway, I can’t even get the leaves off those things. What if we try unravelling our clothes and use their thread?”

Thea took a step back, arms held protectively in front of her pyjamas.

“Honestly?” Dan asked with a groan. “Okay, fine, we will not harm your precious elephants.”

“These pyjamas mean something to me,” was all Thea said.

“They can mean all you want, but when I’m standing there naked because all my clothes are unravelled, it’s your turn.”

She reached down to rip the hem of her shirt, pulled on a thread and tied it around one of the apparently indestructible twigs.

“Thank you for understanding,” Thea said after they’d simply stood there staring at the thread for a while. Her deep voice sounded so earnest that Dan couldn’t help but smile at her.

“All right,” she said. “Let’s go.”

“Wait,” Thea said, holding her hand out in front of Dan to stop her. “I think we should hold hands so we don’t lose each other.”

After a moment, Dan nodded. “Fair point.”

It was a bit awkward, but Dan would rather feel all the awkwardness in the world than wander through that maze alone, so she placed her hand in Thea’s waiting one. They took a deep breath each and then they stepped into the mist.

As soon as they did, the mist was gone. It didn’t even clear, it seemed to just cease to exist from one moment to the next. Dan looked down at her shirt to check the thread was still attached, only to find that her shirt was whole again, not even a hint of the tear visible.

She met Thea’s eyes and as one they whirled around. Dan’s breath got caught in her throat.

The exit was gone. All they could see was a long pathway, rows of hedges on either side.

“What the fuck,” Dan croaked, feeling like her heart was trying to escape her body with how hard and fast it was beating. Her insides seemed to constrict as fear refused to let her breathing slow.

“Dan,” Thea said, insistent and, inconceivably, calm. Her hand in Dan’s was warm and grounding. “Did you know that I almost wore my galaxy pyjamas today? They’re…” Thea cleared her throat and didn’t look away. “They’re my favourite. In my pyjama ranking, they’re number one, followed closely by my elephant ones, of course.”

Dan stared at her, at a loss for words. Then, uncontrollably, she burst out laughing, letting go of Thea’s hand to clutch at her sides. When she was finally able to right herself again, she gave Thea a grin.

“Unbelievable. You’re a pyjama nerd.”

Thea shrugged. “They’re comfortable and soft. I don’t really understand why anyone wouldn’t wear them, to be honest.”

Tilting her head to the side, Dan studied her, an honest smile on her face.

“Thanks,” she said softly, not talking about pyjamas at all, and Thea nodded, understanding.

Dan was usually good at keeping her cool, but feeling trapped with no way out never failed to make her lose it.

“Can we maybe…” Dan started, but then trailed off, unsure. When Thea looked at her encouragingly, Dan tried again. “Can we maybe hold hands again? Just for a bit. I mean, if that’s cool with–”

Thea took her hand. “Yes.”

“Oh,” Dan said, scratching the back of her head for a moment. “Um, great.”

As if on cue, they both started walking, choosing the direction they’d arrived facing.

“I wonder if we’ll meet a sphinx,” Dan said. Thea snorted and Dan felt her eyebrows shoot up. “I thought you weren’t going to rule anything out. Confirm or deny and all that.”

“I’m not. To do so without any knowledge of this place would be foolish. So I guess I can’t, with certainty, rule a sphinx out. First I’ll catalogue, then I’ll theorise.”

“Well, have fun with that. I just want to get out of here.”

“Of course that’s the goal. But if we learn something about this place along the way, I’m not going to complain.”

They walked in silence for a while, not encountering any diverging paths or anything noteworthy.

“Why do you think my shirt’s whole again?” Dan asked eventually.

“Maybe the mist has some restorative properties,” Thea said, doubt lacing every word.

“Or maybe whoever’s in power here doesn’t want us to find our way back out.”

“That… is a sinister and yet possible theory.”

“Look,” Dan said, stopping and thus pulling Thea to a stop with her since they were still holding hands. “What I’m saying is, what if this is some messed up mind game someone’s playing on us?”

A contemplative look settled on Thea’s face. “You mean that we were injected with something that’s making us hallucinate? Possible. Even though it’s not my favourite theory.”

“Yeah, mine either. I think I’ll just stick with astral projection. Maybe this is magic, somehow.”

Thea opened her mouth to protest, but Dan cut her off with, “You can’t rule it out completely, don’t even pretend you can.”

However the conversation might have continued, a booming voice cut it short.

_“Welcome, soulmates!”_

Thea and Dan both flinched. The voice was so loud it was painful. When they looked around, searching for its origin, they found they were seemingly still alone in the maze.

 _“It’s been a while since the last ones came to my maze. They always get sent to the others.”_ The voice huffed. _“What’s going on over on Earth nowadays? Never mind, don’t answer that, haven’t you ever heard of a rhetorical question? That was one just now.”_

Laughter filled the air, and Dan and Thea stared at each other.

_“Yes, yes, I know, I’m so funny it’s dangerous. Anyway, on to more important things. The long and short of it is this: you find a way out of this maze by the time your body wakes up on Earth, you win. You get your soulmate and you get to feel like you’ve accomplished something. And, more importantly, so do I.”_

The voice paused, probably for dramatic effect, and then continued with, _“If you don’t, you forget any of this ever happened and you never meet your soulmate. That’s it, it’s as simple as that! Have fun. Oh, and fall in love along the way, would you? It gives me a better rating. Toodles!”_

Quiet filled the air, more noticeable than before because the absence of the loud voice made her ears ring. Dan looked over at Thea.

“Did that person just use ‘toodles’ unironically?”

“What just happened,” Thea said, and then sat down, not letting go of Dan’s hand. Dan sat down too before Thea pulled a muscle in her arm or something.

“I’d kind of like to revisit that dream theory.”

Thea stared at nothing for a while, then blinked and turned to Dan. “That just happened.”

Dan smiled at her, endeared against her will. “Yeah, I was there.”

“This… This… I have to discard every theory, this changes everything.”

“What, you believe that voice coming out of nowhere? It didn’t exactly inspire a lot of confidence.”

“It’s all we have to go on for now.” Thea shook her head. “You don’t understand, I _need_ this to make sense.”

“Okay, then we’ll try to figure it out,” Dan said. Thea shot her a surprised look. “On the plus side, if we don’t, we’ll apparently forget all about it according to the voice, so.”

“Soulmates…” Thea sounded thoughtful. “I’ve never had reason to consider that as a possibility before.”

Dan scoffed. “Yeah, no thanks. I believe in choice, and I demand it. This isn’t because of you, but I refuse to have anyone tell me who I’m meant to love, even if it’s fate or the fucking universe or whatever.”

“I agree,” Thea said, nodding. “But I also don’t think that’s necessarily what it means.”

“What?”

“Let’s assume, for argument’s sake, soulmates exist, a certain person or a number of people, all connected by some bond that transcends the physical, visible plane.”

“Okay…” Dan said, frowning.

“Those people are, apparently, at some point transported to some… other dimension where they can either conquer some obstacle and retain their memories of the event and, thus, their soulmate, or they can fail or choose to forfeit and simply forget, thereby never meeting their soulmate.”

Dan huffed a laugh, unable to take it seriously.

“In this hypothetical scenario,” Thea continued, “I don’t think this is meant to tell you who to love, I think it’s meant to show you who you’re bonded with. Maybe it’s a similar frequency that bonds people, that’s imaginable. The point is, we can just choose to do nothing, to sit here until our bodies wake up, according to the voice.”

“Or?”

Thea hesitated. “Or we can give this a try and find out more on the way. There are still so many variables that are unaccounted for, so the theory is flimsy at best at the moment.”

Dan stared at her. “How are you just going along with this?”

“I’m not,” Thea replied. “Personally, my opinion on this is that it’s probably some weirdly coherent and fleshed-out fever dream. However, I will not deny that there are other possibilities, and I want to know the truth.”

“This voice… Toodles. They want us to fall in love, Thea. We’ve only just met.”

“That’s not what I’m proposing,” Thea said, shaking her head again, then pausing. “Not that– I mean, not that I couldn’t imagine– You’re– I– What I meant to say is– We–”

Dan raised her eyebrows, simply watching her flounder, unable to help the amusement curling up inside her chest.

“Yes?”

Thea ran a hand down her face. “What I mean is that we just… try. We find out what’s behind all this. And if it’s somehow true what… Toodles said, and we wake up remembering each other, then we can simply elect to ignore that if we want.”

Dan hummed, thinking it over. “I guess you’re right.”

“Good,” Thea said, standing up and dusting her pyjama pants off. “Getting out seems to be possible, so we might as well try.”

Letting Thea pull her up, Dan added, “At least we’re not trapped completely.”

A while later, when their way forward was blocked by a slab of stone and they, upon turning around, found out that their way back was blocked as well, Dan cursed herself for jinxing it.

“I just had to go and say that, didn’t I,” she grumbled.

“At least they’re not moving towards each other to crush us in between,” Thea tried, and Dan glared at her.

“Don’t give them any ideas.”

 _“It’s me again, I’m back!”_ Toodles announced, their voice once again at an uncomfortable volume. _“Bet you didn’t expect to hear from me again so soon.”_

“We accept we’re soulmates, just let us the fuck out of here,” Dan shouted at the sky – which wasn’t a sky, really, but it was where the sky would be on Earth.

Toodles clicked their tongue. _“You’re lying. And that’s not the point of this, dear. The point is to find out if you’re soulmates who should, and want to, meet. Don’t worry, though, getting past these walls is simple. Just tell each other something true about yourselves and_ poof!, _they’re gone. Now get on with it, would you? Time’s running out, slowly but surely as always, lazy bastard.”_

Only when Thea said, “What do you have against my hand?” did Dan realise that she was squeezing it way too hard in anger. She loosened her grip immediately.

“Sorry. I just… They’re forcing us to do this, and I hate that. That’s not okay.”

“Agreed. So what do you want to do? Just wait it out here?”

Dan looked at the walls, so close they were making her start to tremble, and sighed. “I grew up in a trailer park.”

Thea hesitated, then nodded. “My sister is the person who’s the most important to me.”

And, just like that, the walls were gone, one blink to the next.

“Fuck you,” Dan shouted upwards, for good measure.

They continued walking in silence for a while. Dan frowned, looking around.

“This is more boring than I was expecting,” she said eventually. “No fire-spewing statues, no rocks trying to crush us, no riddles, no anything.”

Thea raised her eyebrows. “What did you just say about not giving them any ideas? I’d rather it’s boring than life-threatening.”

Dan scoffed. “We can’t die here.”

“Are you sure about that?”

After a pause, Dan said, “No.”

“There you have it.”

“Anyway, even if we can, I refuse to die here, with some voice out of nowhere watching us, getting off on us taking a walk through their boring maze. Never.”

One moment later, they were at the bottom of a hole in the ground.

“Honestly?” Dan demanded. “Do you have it out for me or something?”

 _“Well, you’re not in love yet, and you haven’t found your way out of the maze, if I may remind you. It’s in all of our best interests if you simply do what I say.”_ Toodles’ voice was so cheerful Dan suddenly wanted nothing more than to fight them.

“How do we get out of here?” Thea asked, sounding so calm that Dan felt a bit embarrassed about her own lack of composure.

 _“Don’t tell her, but you’re my favourite,”_ Toodles said in a conspiratorial tone.

“I’m right here,” Dan said.

_“I know, you were supposed to hear. Anyway, just tell each other something true that you think about the other person and voilà, you’re free. Don’t take too long! Remember, time’s running out. Bye now.”_

Dan groaned. “Toodles is the worst.”

“I’m inclined to agree.”

“Well, I’m just going to start then. I think that you’re…” Dan paused, thinking for a moment, since she’d started talking before figuring out what she wanted to say. “I think you’re adorable.”

Thea stared at her. “What?”

With a shrug, Dan repeated, “I think you’re adorable.”

“I’m… That’s… I mean, no one’s ever really described me that way before.”

“I can’t believe you’re making me say this, but there’s a first time for everything.” Dan waved her hand around impatiently. “Your turn. Let’s get out of here.”

Thea cleared her throat. “All right, I guess it’s necessary. I think… you’re impressive.”

“Impressive how?” Dan asked, not walking on even though the hole was gone now.

“That’s not part of it,” Thea said, and Dan reluctantly let it drop.

 _“Superb,”_ Toodles’ voice rang out. _“Couldn’t have done it better myself. Although… Never mind. Now find your way out of the maze. A hint: the exit has nothing to do with where you go and everything to do with how you feel while going there.”_

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Dan was honestly exasperated at this point. When there was no answer, she called out, “Toodles?”

Thea tugged on her hand. “Let’s just keep going for now. Nothing will come out of standing still.”

“Fine,” Dan grumbled. After a while, she asked, “What do you want to come out of this?”

“Hm?”

“I mean, regardless of whether we’re soulmates or not, do you want to finish this and remember me, or would you rather forget all of this ever happened?”

Thea didn’t say anything for a while. Then, “What about you?”

“No way, I asked you first.”

“If we remember…” Thea sighed. “I don’t know. As I've said, I haven’t ever considered soulmates as a possibility before, in this world. What would that mean for science? For my personal beliefs? Would it mean anything? I don’t know.”

“Okay,” Dan said. “But on a personal level, what about me? Remember or forget?”

Thea stopped walking and turned to face Dan, letting go of Dan’s hand. It made Dan feel strangely vulnerable and isolated, and she had to fight the impulse to reach for Thea’s hand again.

“Dan, we don’t really know each other. Are you asking me if I would regret never remembering you?”

“You don’t know most of the Earth’s population, Thea. Doesn’t mean you’re never going to get to know anyone new in your life and maybe grow close to them. And you can’t regret something you don’t remember.”

“Is that what you want? To… grow close?”

Dan grimaced at the awkwardness of it all. “Again, I asked you first. What do you want? Or do you not care?”

Thea shook her head. “I don’t know what to make of any of this. I’m not a hundred percent convinced you’re even real.”

“Same,” Dan said. “But I also know that, real or not, I kind of like what I know of you up till now, and I’d like at least a chance to get to know the rest. It’s not necessarily about dating or anything. We could be friends, or at least acquaintances who shared a really weird experience and kind of feel bonded as a result.”

“It _would_ be a pity to forget all of this,” Thea said, looking around. “It opens up so many possibilities for research.”

“Forget it.” Dan sighed. “Forget I said anything, let’s just keep going.”

She started walking again, but when Thea’s hand reached out to grab her own, she froze and looked back at her.

“We could. Try, that is. To get to know each other, I mean.”

Smiling lopsidedly, Dan looked up at the not-sky.

“This is really awkward.”

“Yes,” Thea agreed.

“They should work on their cupid-ing if us getting to know each other is really the goal of all of this. Less weird, boring mazes and more filling out a questionnaire or something.”

 _“On that note,”_ Toodles said, at the same time as the hedges on either side of them grew vines that wrapped around Thea and Dan, pulling them apart. _“Ask each other something you want to know about the other person, and answer honestly, or you’ll be stuck here. Have fun!”_

“You fucking–” Dan cut herself off, deciding to use her energy to struggle against the vines instead, to no avail. Thea waited until she gave up, panting, to speak.

“I guess I’ll go first, then.” She paused before continuing with, “I can ask something else if you don’t want to answer, but do you have any family?”

“By blood? Yes, but I wouldn’t call them that. ‘People who share some of my genes’ is more like it. By choice, also yes. I consider my stage sisters family. We’ve supported each other, always, and gone through a lot of stuff together. They are family to me.”

Thea nodded, surprising Dan by not commenting on that at all and instead taking it at face value.

When Dan took too long to speak, Thea said, “Now you.”

“Oh, right.”

What did she want to know about Thea? What _didn’t_ she want to know about Thea? She knew so little, but Dan didn’t want to ask anything too personal or anything too inconsequential.

Eventually, she settled on, “Why are those pyjamas special to you?”

Thea looked down at them and smiled. “My sister got me these a couple of years ago. It wasn’t my birthday or anything, really, she just saw them and thought of me and bought them, because she knows I love pyjamas and I love elephants and she cares.”

Dan stumbled forwards as the vines relinquished their hold on her. Before she knew it, she and Thea were holding hands again, and she couldn’t have even said who reached for whom first. Dan adjusted her hand in Thea’s, linking their fingers together carefully.

“Just out of curiosity,” Dan said, “what about the galaxy pyjamas? Why are they your favourite?”

“I bought myself those as a reward for getting a job after graduating, with my first pay check.”

Dan shook her head. “See, that’s why you’re adorable.”

In response, Thea laughed, and Dan looked at her out of the corner of her eye.

“I wonder when we’re going to wake up.”

“I don’t know,” Thea said. “What I’m wondering is, what determines whether soulmates… pass the test or whatever this is. What makes the difference between, for example, making it out of this maze and never finding the exit? And what does that mean for their supposed bond? There seems to be such a thing as ‘not soulmates enough,’ and I have to admit I don’t quite understand that.”

Dan hummed. “What if it’s not a question of the bond? A soulmate’s a soulmate. If they exist, then I don’t think there’s some kind of hierarchy of their connection or soulmate-ier soulmates or something.”

“And yet Toodles said that either we make it out and remember, or we don’t and we forget and never meet.”

“Sure, but what if it’s not a question of the strength of the bond but if the soulmates themselves are ready for it? Maybe you don’t get only one chance, they just try again at different stages of soulmates’ lives.” Dan froze. “What if this isn’t the first time we’re doing something like this?”

Thea stared at her. “You mean, what if we didn’t pass the test before and just don’t remember?”

Dan laughed, massaging her temples with one hand. “It’s so ridiculous how we’re just going along with this now.”

“Why? There’s nothing to irrevocably discount it as a possibility.”

“Okay, okay, let’s say this is a thing. We’re…” Dan swallowed. “We’re soulmates. We have a bond, and that bond is something good. The… universe, or whatever the fuck, is giving us a chance to meet. Do you really think it’s plausible that if all that’s true, there’s just a once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet your soulmate?”

Thea frowned, mulling it over.

“I say that’s bullshit,” Dan continued. “I say if they go to all this trouble, they’re not going to say, ‘Oh, well, guess they’ll never meet then,’ after you fail some weird challenge of theirs.”

“So you’re saying that at different stages of people’s lives, they’re transported here or somewhere similar, and if everyone involved is at a point where they’re open for it, then they remember, and otherwise they forget?”

Dan shrugged. “It’s just a theory.”

“A good one,” Thea said, sounding contemplative.

“So, in that case, I guess the question is: are we ready?”

“I…” Thea started, then broke off. “A relationship, at the moment… I don’t know. But what I do know is that I don’t want to forget. This or you.”

She squeezed Dan’s hand and met her eyes with such an earnest expression that Dan’s emotions seemed to be confused about which one of them she should be feeling.

“If we’re… soulmates… whatever that means,” Thea continued, “then I’d rather know now, remember now, than a few years from now, or never.”

“Yeah,” Dan said carefully. “Yeah, me too.”

_“Woohoo!”_

As soon as Toodles’ exclamation rang out, the maze started dissolving in front of their eyes, unlike the other things that had simply disappeared. Dan could feel that her mouth was hanging open, but she couldn’t get herself to close it.

When the maze was gone, nothing remained, not the hill where they’d started out, not the mist, not even a single leaf or blade of grass. Everything was just… nothing. When she looked over at Thea, however, she was still as clearly visible as if the sun were shining.

_“We did it, you two! This’ll do wonders for my tarnished reputation. Maybe they’ll actually start sending soulmates my way regularly again, and not just ones they know aren’t ready yet. Yes, yes, you were right about that, congratulations.”_

“ _We_?” Dan asked, incredulous. “You did nothing! Except annoy us, if that somehow counts.”

Toodles huffed. _“A very important contribution, my dear! It gave you something to bond over. And my little ‘traps’ did help push you in the right direction, might I add.”_

Dan tried to lunge forward, despite the fact that Toodles was still just a voice, but Thea held her back, which earned her a glare.

“It’s over,” Thea whispered. “Let’s not provoke them.”

 _“That’s why you’re my favourite,”_ Toodles said, sounding approving. _“The determined voice of reason.”_

“You do _not_ get to talk about ‘reason,’” Dan gritted out. “None of this was reasonable!”

Toodles tsked. _“Always the critic. At least I took out all the death traps, by popular demand. You should be grateful.”_

“We can’t die here,” Dan said, sounding surer than she felt.

_“If you say so. Now, I gather that you want to remember each other, right?”_

Dan and Thea shared a look and both nodded.

“You said we would if we beat the maze,” Thea said.

_“I did say that, didn’t I? The thing is, I left out a crucial detail: you also have to kiss. Otherwise? Say bye-bye to your memories of this.”_

“What?” Dan demanded. “You can’t be serious.”

_“I’m afraid that I am. It’s your choice, of course. I just added a pinch of pressure. Really rounds out the taste, in my humble opinion.”_

“If you’re humble, then I was born on Neptune.”

_“You were? I’ve always preferred Uranus, myself. Now, talk about it. Time’s really running out this time. Tick-tock.”_

Dan didn’t think she’d ever met a more obnoxious person, and that was saying something. Thea clearing her throat made Dan’s anger ebb slightly, and she looked over at her.

“What do you want to do?” Thea asked calmly.

Sighing, Dan rubbed a hand over her face. “I don’t know. What about you?”

Thea shrugged. “I don’t mind either way, whichever you prefer, but I wouldn’t mind. A peck would be enough, I assume.”

Dan bit her bottom lip. She didn’t really mind, either, since to her kissing didn’t necessarily have to have a lot of anything attached to it, but it still didn’t sit right with her, to do it because they kind of had to instead of because they truly wanted to. Even if they chose it now, it would be because of the ultimatum.

And yet, with the alternative being forgetting Thea, it wasn’t even really much of a choice at all. She nodded.

“Let’s do it.”

“All right,” Thea said, but didn’t move.

They stood there awkwardly, watching each other, waiting for the other person to make a move.

“How should we… do this?” Thea finally asked.

Dan raised her eyebrows. “I’m pretty sure your lips have to touch my lips and then–”

“No,” Thea interrupted quickly. “I mean, do you… or should I… or…?”

Kissing really shouldn’t be that complicated. At least, it hadn’t ever been in Dan’s experience, but then again, she’d only ever done it when it had happened organically, not on command or whatever this was. Definitely stilted.

“I can’t believe this,” Dan said, a decidedly exasperated tone to her voice, and then decided to just go for it.

She stepped forward, grabbed Thea’s face more gently than she thought possible with how annoyed she was feeling with this whole situation, pulled her down, kissed her, and then promptly lost her breath.

When their lips met, something inside her slotted into place that she hadn’t even known was askew. Maybe Thea was feeling something similar, if the way she gasped was anything to go by.

Their kiss turned desperate in a heartbeat, both of them so overwhelmed with emotion they didn’t know where else to put it. Dan pulled Thea closer and then closer still, till not even the tiniest amount of space remained between them.

 _“I lied about the kiss, you know,”_ Toodles said, and they jumped apart, startled. _“You shouldn’t believe everything you’re told. I mean, I can’t complain, it’ll improve my rating! Just for future reference.”_

“You manipulative asshole,” Dan said, out of breath, but there was no real heat behind it, as it felt like her head had yet to re-attach itself to her body. She was floating, far up where her brain couldn’t quite catch up with her.

When she slowly returned to herself, she noticed she was still holding onto Thea, and Thea hadn’t let go of her yet either. Their eyes met and Dan couldn’t help but smile. After a beat, Thea smiled back, and so much warmth filled Dan’s chest at that that she just had to kiss her again before reluctantly letting go of her.

 _“I’m here too, you know,”_ Toodles said.

“Shut up, I thought you wanted this,” Dan shot back.

_“I did. I just realised that I also want attention, and you weren’t giving me any. You know that they were sure you wouldn’t be ready yet? You never would have been sent here otherwise. They think my methods are too ‘unorthodox.’”_

“How many of you are there?” Thea asked.

_“Wouldn’t you like to know?”_

“Yes. That’s why I asked.”

_“Me too. I actually have no idea. Existing and not existing, it’s all so fickle, I can never keep track.”_

“Well, the others can only be better than you,” Dan said.

_“Ouch. And here I was about to remind you to trade contact information before you wake up, but boo, you ruined that. My ego isn’t even bruised, though, you’re going to have to try harder. It’s pretty gigantic.”_

“I have no doubt,” Dan replied. Thea’s hand on her arm made her look over at her.

“Toodles is right.” Dan grimaced, which caused Thea’s lips to quirk into a small smile. “I know. But we really should make sure we know how to find each other. If this somehow turns out to be real and if that’s still what you want.”

“Oh,” Dan said and blinked. “Yes.”

“I’ll give you my number,” Thea said.

Dan felt her eyebrows shoot up. “Are you expecting me to just remember it? Numbers of any kind slip through my brain like sand unless I’m confronted with them approximately ten thousand times.”

“Okay, then you tell me yours. I’m good with numbers.”

“Of course you are.” Dan told her, and couldn’t help but feel impressed when Thea repeated it back to her perfectly. “Wow, Thea. I don’t know how that’s possible, but I’m not even going to question it.”

Thea looked pleased, and Dan tried and failed not to be too endeared by that.

And then, Thea was gone.

Dan blinked, rubbed at her eyes, checked again and then whirled around, searching.

“Thea?” It felt like her heart was trying to beat out of her chest.

_“Oh, honey, she just woke up first, it’s fine.”_

“Don’t call me honey.”

_“Fine, but I don’t really see how you can stop me. I’m not really considerate enough to just do what someone asks or tells me to do. Some would call that a flaw. I prefer to call it strength of character.”_

Dan took a deep breath. “What do you mean, she woke up first?”

_“Um… what it says on the tin, really. She always wakes up ten minutes before her alarm goes off. It’s pretty impressive. And we wouldn’t want to keep her here after that, or do you want people to think she’s in a coma?”_

“So what you’re saying… is that I’m stuck here with you?” Dan groaned.

 _“There are nicer ways to put that,”_ Toodles said, sounding decidedly like they were pouting.

“You’ll live.”

_“I’m not human so that doesn’t really apply, but thanks! Everything should get a bit better now, thanks to you two ladies.”_

“Good luck with that,” Dan said, and couldn’t even tell herself if she meant it.

_“Oh, you’re waking up, your bladder is demanding attention. Think of me on your anniversaries, would you? Toodles!”_

She opened her mouth to say something, but then–

Dan woke up with a groan and a frown, flipping herself onto her back and blinking up at the ceiling, trying to make sense of what she was remembering. She hadn’t remembered a dream in ages, and Thea had seemed so–

Shooting up so fast it left her dizzy, she groped around for her cell phone on her nightstand. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw the notification for a message from an unknown number.

 _Is this Dan? If not, please ignore this_ , it read.

Dan huffed, and before she knew it, her huff had turned into a laugh, then into a gasp, then into a cough. When she’d finally calmed down somewhat, she grinned and typed back, _It is!! That really fucking happened. Good luck having science explain it._

_Thank you. It will._

_As if. Let some magic into your life._

When staring at her phone waiting for Thea’s next message started to feel awkward, Dan stretched and got up, padding over to the toilet and then the kitchen.

She actually managed to wait until after breakfast to check her phone again, something she felt she deserved a pat on the back for, or at least a thumbs up.

There was a message waiting for her, and it said, _Do you want to meet?_

Feeling like her heart was doing somersaults, Dan replied, _Yes!!! Yes. Yes, I do. Let’s. Do this. Meet, I mean._

Then she saved Thea’s number as _Thea the Soulmate_ , took a screenshot and sent it to her.

Letting herself flop onto her back, Dan held her phone up and stared at it, willing a message to arrive. When it did, Dan simply stared at it for a moment before finally making an indignant sound.

Thea had also sent her her contact list, and it showed Dan that she was saved as, _The person who named Toodles_. Dan took to typing furiously immediately.

_No. No way. Take that back right this instant. Anything else, just not fucking Toodles._

_Sorry, I don’t know how. Never figured out how to edit existing contacts._

_The edit button is right there!!!!_

_Is it? In a hurry, sorry, don’t have the time, person who named Toodles._

_You’re so fake, I can’t believe_ , Dan typed, huffing. _You just fucking took the time to type out ‘person who named Toodles,’ but you can’t change my name?? Lies._

It took a while for the next message to arrive. _To make up for that, have a truth: I’m looking forward to seeing you again. (Is it again? Or is it the first time? Does soul-seeing count?)_

Dan smiled and had to drop her phone so she’d be able to cover her face with her hands while she kicked out at nothing for a couple of seconds.

Eventually, she picked her phone back up again and typed, _Me too._

She knew she was getting way ahead of herself, but she spent the time waiting for Thea’s reply thinking about how she’d explain how she’d met Thea to her stage sisters. The truth? Would they believe it? Maybe she’d be better off with a slight fabrication.

Her phone lit up. The message read, _Where do you live?_ immediately followed by, _I’ll tell you first if that would make you feel more comfortable._

Fuck. Dan’s chest filled with warmth and she wanted nothing more than to hug Thea. To feel her hand in hers again – or for the first time, here, on Earth.

Feeling like she should really slow down and distance herself a bit but not caring anyway, Dan let out a happy sigh while she replied.

In the past, she’d never actively pursued a relationship, her other goals always that much clearer and more important to her. And, to be honest, she’d never missed it or desired it. She’d seen how relationships could fuck people over, and she hadn’t had any desire to be vulnerable in any way. But Thea…

She was going to meet Thea. She was going to get to know her, to find out all the big and little things and everything in between.

The thought of letting her in didn’t even scare Dan, and that surprised her more than anything else.

Had she ever felt this optimistic about something? Of course, it could always all come crashing down, but right then, she was happy.

**Author's Note:**

> if you felt any kind of way about this, it would be very lovely of you to leave a comment!!
> 
> the title is from tracy chapman's (yes, again, still and always) thinking of you
> 
> so..... this is........ kind of bad. i wanted to just let it gather dust but?? dan and thea need more love. out of all possible ship names i think wildani is my favourite but idk, what do you think?
> 
> thea loves pyjamas bc i love pyjamas i'm sorry thea akjhfkd also, i admire them for being able to hold hands so soon after meeting, i only feel comfortable with a very limited number of ppl touching my hands tbh
> 
> what is character consistency??? i don't know..... that's a huge reason i just wanted to forget i'd ever written this, also bc everything moves too fast and stuff, idk. this is just..... so weird.......... and i really don't have an explanation
> 
> i reaaaally wanted to include riddles i'm so disappointed, a maze without riddles is just thumbs down, but i simply can't come up with them?? i love riddles so much i wish i could but i'm not good enough aghsdhg also there is no real danger even though there probably should be in a maze........
> 
> and my endings are always so cheesy?? it's bc i never know how to end things and just always want them to end on a happy note ajhfksdhk but!!! last time i said i wanted to write smth in the 7000s and this time i managed that?? what
> 
> idk if anyone read this, but lots of love to you!! ♥


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